Cannon is a CBSdetective television series produced by Quinn Martin which aired from March 26, 1971 to March 3, 1976. The primary protagonist is the title character, private detective Frank Cannon, played by William Conrad. He also appeared on two episodes of Barnaby Jones.

Cannon is the first Quinn Martin-produced series to be aired on a network other than ABC. A "revival" television film, The Return of Frank Cannon, was aired on November 1, 1980. In total, there were 124 episodes.

Contents

Frank Cannon was a detective with the Los Angeles Police Department, however he retired after the deaths of his wife and son in a car accident and later became a private detective. The series begins at the point where Cannon is just beginning this new career (the pilot film picks up after Cannon has just spent 2 1/2 months overseas on an investigation). The cause of death of Cannon's wife and child was not clear through the first four seasons of the show. However, the first episode of the fifth and final season revolves around Cannon's investigation of the deaths, and he finally finds out the reason they were killed.

The noticeably overweight Frank Cannon had expensive tastes, especially in food and cars. (His primary vehicle was an ice-blue '72 Lincoln Continental Mark IV.) During the series' run, his car would range from a Lincoln 1971 Mark III to a 1976 Mark IV in various color schemes, all dark over light blue exteriors, with interiors ranging from red velour to dark-blue leather... Cannon's investigations were mostly for clients in the Southern California area, although on occasion he was called in for investigations much farther away (e.g., New Mexico in the pilot).

Cannon occasionally would get hurt (shot or beaten) and knocked unconscious. He carried a gun for self-defense, usually a snub-nosed .38 Special revolver (which appeared to be a Colt Detective Special). Sometimes he used other guns (Including an M1911 and a B.A.R). He was known to subdue suspects with karate chops, judo holds, and occasionally he would thrust and knock down adversaries with his huge abdomen.

In the first two seasons Cannon was a pipe smoker. In the third season, the pipe was seen occasionally; it was subsequently dropped altogether.

Frank Cannon had his first meeting with Barnaby Jones (Buddy Ebsen), an aging veteran private investigator who had retired and turned over his agency to his son, Hal. However, Hal is killed. With the aid of Cannon and Hal's widow, Betty Jones (Lee Meriwether), they hunt down Hal's killer. Afterward, Jones decides to come out of retirement. The premiere episode of Barnaby Jones, "Requiem for a Son" was planned as a second-season Cannon episode so that Barnaby Jones could qualify as a spin-off of Cannon, but when Barnaby Jones was sold as a separate series, the script was reworked into the premiere of that show. William Conrad appeared as Cannon in the guise of a special guest star.

There was a second "crossover" between the series. The first part of the two-part episode, "The Deadly Conspiracy", was aired as the second episode of the fifth season of Cannon on September 17, 1975; the second part aired two nights later as the fourth season premiere of Barnaby Jones.

In an era decades before cell phone use, Cannon was using a "mobile phone" in his car, which was highly rare at the time. (TV detective Richard Diamond had one in the late '50s.) He would begin by asking the mobile operator to dial a call for him. Phones of this type were precursors to modern cell phones. The phone prop itself, in his car, was a Motorola brand MTS mobile phone.

Cannon's pistol has been subject to discussion. Most agree that it is some variant of a Colt Detective Special in .38. At least one source claims the actual weapon to be a Colt Bankers Special in .22 LR but it is generally agreed that Cannon carries a .38.

In the first season, a young Martin Sheen had a recurring role as ex-policeman Jerry Warton, but the character did not extend beyond the first year—in fact, in the third season, Sheen guest starred as a lawyer who murdered Cannon's client.

To a client: "OK, sir, I'll take your case and investigate what happened...But just remember, the truth is like rain --- it doesn't care who gets wet."

To an underling of a crime boss: "Number one: I don't talk to pip-squeaks and Number two: I don't work for no $500."

To a suspect: "Fresh air?...When I get through with you, the only fresh air you're gonna get will be in an exercise yard."

To a client: "You have just asked the question that sends me right through the ceiling...I'd like to go one day without someone asking me: 'Can I trust you?'...Well, the answer is: 'No, no, you cannot trust me, why don't you try Lt. Hayes?'"

To a client: "Listen to me...When you withhold information from me, not only do you compromise my ability to investigate -- but you make me appear as a jack-ass."

To the proprietor of the club where a murder victim worked: "Well surely you have his W-2 form?....Or doesn't your establishment worry about things like taxes."

To the proprietor of the club where a murder victim worked (same): "Now tell me about Sam Gerritz...And not how he danced, but how he died."

Pressing a thug's head up against bubbling grease in a fry-o-lator basket: "OK...Now I wanna know who's behind the pressure to get me out of town, hmmm."

To a guy sticking his finger in his face: "Don't point your finger at me!!...I hate it when people point fingers at people!"

To an African-American couple over Cannon's apartment for dinner: "What makes you think a person like me wouldn't enjoy soul food?..Just remember, when it comes to the soul, we do not count the calories."

Over the phone to a crime boss whose thug Cannon beat up after being attacked: "I guess you didn't send one of your better boys...You'll find him on the hood of his car."

To a man ready to commit his 3rd murder: "You seem to have established your standard operating procedure fairly well."

To a sleazy bar-owner: "With what I could dig up on you in two days, I could put you away for 20 years...But lucky for you, I need to catch a murderer...So I'm going to ask you just one more time --- who was the man who ran outta here?"

To a teen-age punk who tells Cannon to mind his own business because his father is Chief-of-Police: "I'm sure he's really proud of you."

To a man about to reach into his pocket for a gun: "I suggest you don't do that, sonny."

In response to a man who answered that a murdered con-man seemed like a pretty nice guy: "Really?...Because "Nice Guy" is a Minority Report."

In response to a police detective who intimated that Cannon's client was a prime suspect because the murder victim owed her money and people get killed for owing money: "Well people get killed playing radios in bathtubs too."

On asked whether he would take a case written into a will (the dead man stipulated that his death was to be investigated before dispersion of his assets): "I'll have to think about it...You see, I've never been retained by a dead man before."

To a mentally ill client who tells Cannon he feels like he's in a movie doing horrible things to people, but can't stop: "Maybe it's time you walked out on that movie."

To a guy (Dale) about to be beaten up by a loanshark: "I said HOLD IT!...Who's the paper tiger, Dale?...Does he always maul his clients like that?"

To mentally-ill teen-ager with a Charles Manson-like following who was threatening to throw himself off a cliff to commit suicide: "I won't let you do it Larry...No way...So that all the kids in this town can yell 'Martyr' every time the sun goes down."

Approaching vandals who trashed a client's restaurant: "Why, you animals!"

After being knocked down a flight of stairs by a baby carriage, a client standing nearby says that the kid upstairs collect bottles: "Well, maybe he thinks I give refunds."

To a murderer who tries to buy Cannon off with a tempting, 'how about I mention some figures?': "Figures?...How about 10 to 40 for Murder One?"

To a suspect who caught Cannon's arm with a fish-hook (causing Cannon great pain), but then said he was actually only trying to help: "You're about as helpful as a case of the plague!"

In response to an allegation that he was responsible for a senator committing suicide (Cannon had exposed the senator ordering murders): "No....He did it all himself."

Hearing how the client who just left him to die is an embezzler: "With the wisdom of hindsight, that doesn't surprise me."

To a supper club owner: "It's Friday night, there are maybe a dozen people out there, at 2 bucks a head...You must be a financial wizard -- you don't take in enough to wax your dance floors, yet you manage to meet a payroll and contribute large chucks of money to the Eckworth Foundation."

To the Eckworth Foundation president: "Mr. Eckworth...I came to Woodfield 24 hours ago without a care in the world...Since that time, I've been roughed up by the police, threatened by one of Webber's boys, and linked you to a murdered con-man you never met --- not to mention that Ernie Webber contributes large amounts of money to your foundation when he doesn't even take in enough to pay his light bill."

To a beautiful secretary, whose response to Cannon’s offer for her to come out after work and have a drink with him was to twirl her banana curls, show Cannon her large diamond ring, and say that she didn’t think her fiancé would like that very much: “That didn’t keep you from dating Bobby Kester though, did it? Now do you want to keep this discussion in private, or otherwise?”

CBS DVD (distributed by Paramount) has released the first two seasons of Cannon on DVD in Region 1. Season 3 was released on January 10, 2013 via Amazon.com's CreateSpace program. This is a Manufacture-on-Demand (MOD) release, available exclusively through Amazon.com.[1]